Awaiting AR with Apple Glass

Each year Apple unveils a new lineup of devices and focuses its audience’s attention on one or two key developments. Long rumored to be on the cusp of release, Apple’s attempts at securing a portion of the Augmented Reality market may take priority in 2021. This week, tech analyst and Apple enthusiast Ming-Chi Kuo revealed that Apple would debut its first AR device in 2021. Whether this will be a general AR device or the much-anticipated wearable Apple AR Glasses remains to be seen, if it even lands this year. Kuo’s analysis of Apple’s internal behavior and outward trends is regarded as one of the industry’s most reliable sources of advanced information regarding the Cupertino-based tech giant. When Kuo drops an info bomb, Apple fans listen.

Rumor Mill Rumblings

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With so many rumors flying around regarding the Apple Glass project, it can be hard to know what’s what. Are the rumors of a “Steve Jobs Heritage” edition of the smart-specs remotely true? Will Apple’s AR wearable rely heavily on an iPhone or iPad for use? To that second question, the answer certainly seems to be “yes,” as all indications point to Glass largely being treated as an add-on for those mobile devices. That doesn’t suggest low operating power, as some might assume. In fact, with Apple talking to Valve about bringing the Steam ecosystem into the Mac universe, gamers previously all-but-ignored by Apple could be leaping into AR and VR games directly from the latest iOS.

Rumblings of a smart vehicle being developed by Apple for eventual (likely next decade) release also include talk of AR features. Similar to the Panasonic AR vehicle HUD seen at CES 2021, Apple’s forthcoming AR infrastructure could be the same that supports augmented driving displays. That’s not the only other area we’ll see AR improving, of course. Apple CEO Tim Cook has long held that AR, not VR, offers the greatest opportunity for widespread adoption. Its benefits not demanding the user remove themselves from their real-world environment to the degree required by VR. Whatever the late-2020s and early-2030s have in store for Apple consumers, expect AR to be playing a major role.

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Poised for Prominence

Image: Mike Wehner / Daily Dot

In June of 2020, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple was working on both a standard AR device and an AR wearable in tandem. Apple is now reportedly aiming at a 2021 headset release with the more advanced Glasses following in 2023. Along with AirTags, new AirPod, and Macbook Pro models, the release of Apple Glasses by 2021’s end would be truly impressive progress. With the “second phase” of design and testing well underway according to numerous sources, Apple appears to be nearing completion of its hotly anticipated AR wearable and hopes, like many would-be buyers, it will lead to a major change in tech adoption comparable to the iPod explosion of the early 2000s.

Could 2021 be the year an affordable high-end AR wearable from a major firm hits the market? Will we be seeing a parade of AR porn productions focusing on this cool new tech the same way we saw iPhone, Snapchat, and TikTok-themed scenes? Should early adopters also fond of porn prepare themselves for many hours of discreet smut-viewing while pretending to be going about their day, hot new AR gadget attached to their face? Apple’s most devoted followers and acolytes, not to mention the general AR-interested public, are now aching to find out.